Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin address the media during his Emergency Gun Violence Summit on Saturday, July 9. (Photo Richard Boykin Facebook)

An effort has been launched to get Chicago and Cook County labeled as “endangered communities.”

That designation would free up state and federal money for crime-prevention efforts, job creation and school improvements.

“There is a lower life expectation in these areas,” said Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, a sponsor of the measure. “People are being gunned down. They are in poor performing schools.”

Boykin said he will do whatever he can at the county level to get money allocated for job training and reducing gun violence.

“County government is so important for the health of the area and our communities are barely holding on,” Boykin said. “… We are annihilating each other. We are losing so many people. There are gunshots and deadly violence.”

The commissioner said with more than 300 people killed and more than 1,300 people shot in Chicago so far this year steps need to be taken to address the violence plaguing the area.

To that end, Boykin held an Emergency Gun Violence Summit on Saturday. The event included Congressmen Danny K. Davis and Robin Kelly, and longtime activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

“The summit demonstrated the impact that poverty and the lack of employment for residents has on Cook County,” Boykin said.

Along with the need to combat escalating gun violence, Boykin said the police shootings last week of African-American men in Minnesota and New Orleans and the deaths of five police officers in Dallas show that there are declining police/community relations.

“We are on the verge of a race war,” Boykin said. “What we saw in Dallas is unfortunate, but it may be a prelude of what is to come. You have individuals so hopelessly beat down that they go out and target white people.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson was among the speakers at the Emergency Gun Violence Summit on Saturday, hosted by County Commissioner Richard Boykin. (Richard Boykin photo)

Boykin said that race relations between white police officers and blacks is at an all-time low. He said the issues are exacerbated by the political gridlock on the state and national levels and the failure to get budgets passed to help social service agencies which help people with their problems.

“People want a piece, their share of the American pie,” Boykin said. “We have kids dropping out of school and selling drugs on the street corners.”

He said that voters play a role in improving police/community relations as well.

“It takes voters being vigilant and demanding transparency, as much transparency as possible,” Boykin said. “I appreciate the federal government getting involved, but we have got to have our local politicians involved. We have got to rely on them. Remember, (Chicago Mayor Rahm) Emanuel hid the tape of (the Laquan McDonald) shooting for a year.”

He said independent panels need to be set up to examine police practices and procedures.

“We need another set of eyes on cases. We need to look over police departments and ensure they do what is right,” the commissioner said. “We need to make sure what is in our U.S. Constitution stands. We have become lawbreakers here. We can’t criticize China and Russia (over civil rights violations) when we do it here.”

Boykin has been stifled so far in his efforts at the county level to generate jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds and create parenting classes for struggling individuals. He said that county officials will eventually get that there is a need that has to be addressed.

“I hope they get it before long,” he said of his county peers. “No one thought what happened would happen in Dallas.”

Boykin had already announced the summit after the shootings in Minnesota and New Orleans and prior to the shootings in Dallas.

In announcing the summit, he said police shootings of blacks had to be addressed.

“Philando Castile. Alton Sterling. Freddie Gray. Laquan McDonald. Eric Garner. Michael Brown. How many more black males must die before we hold police accountable for the violent targeting of African-American men by police officers in this country?” Boykin asked in announcing the summit.

“Murder is murder. When murder is committed under color of law, and when officers of the law place themselves in the role of judge, jury and executioner with impunity, the time has come for America to wake up.

“Police officers who commit murder must be terminated as a matter of course. They must not be placed on desk duty, their salaries, pensions and reputations protected by virtue of due process. Because due process is exactly what their victims are denied.”

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